Harvard Newsletter

Hello Harvard Parents,

Tomorrow we begin the administration of the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR). Our school community promotes a calm and encouraging learning environment for our test takers. We kindly ask parents to be mindful of the testing schedule. You can help by avoiding picking up students early or dropping off forgotten items.

Also, we are happy to announce we have hired a School Social Worker. Ms. Mia Sepulveda, LMSW, will start on May 20th!

As always, we appreciate your cooperation and understanding!

Think you can...Work hard...Get smart!

Respectfully,

Laura Alaniz

Harvard Elementary Principal

• May 17 Brown Bag Adm Chat
• May 18 Parent Garden Workday
• May 23-26 Kinder-4th Grade Student Led-Conference
• May 27 5th Grade IB Exhibition
• May 23-27 Scholastic Book Fair
• May 30 Memorial Day (No School)
• May 31-June 3 PreK-5th grade EOY Award Day
• June 7 EOY Class Celebration
• June 7 Donovan Park Field Trip (Last Day of School)

Third, Fourth and Fifth-grade students take the state assessment on May 10th, 11th and 12th.

3rd, 4th, and 5th-grade students will take the STAAR assessment this week. To ensure your child’s success, students should arrive at school no later than 7:35 a.m. each day of testing and receive a good night’s sleep and breakfast. Remember, HISD provides free breakfast for all students.

In preparation for these three days, please help us with the following:

• Your child attends school and is on time.

• Call the office if your child will be tardy for any reason.

• Please do not make plans to check your child out early from school.

• Testing security prohibits technology devices at school.

Devices include, but are not limited to:

• Cell Phones

• Tablets

• Smart Watches

If a student arrives at school with a device, it will be picked up by the teacher and secured for the duration of testing.

• Students may bring a book to read after they complete their test.

• Visitors will not be permitted on campus.

Parents,

Join us for Student-Led Conferences during the week of May 23rd. This is when students are responsible for leading the conference and taking responsibility for their learning by sharing the process with their parents.

Please be on the lookout for an email from your child's teacher regarding the details/dates.

Thank you,

John Pacheco

IB Coordinator

Jpachec2@houstonisd.org

Hello Parents,

As the end of the year approaches, we are ensuring transportation services are ready and available for the next school year.

Once the window for submission opens, I will input the request. As a reminder, the requests could take up to 2-3 weeks to process.

HISD Transportation Eligibility

Resident district students who are attending magnet programs on approved transfers and who reside two or more miles (as measured along the shortest route that may be traveled on public roads) from their assigned campuses are eligible for transportation services at district designated stops.

If you are planning on utilizing HISD transportation services for the 2022-2023 school year, please submit your student’s name: https://forms.gle/87zAwV2PdZPtqNzh6

Thank you,

Alejandra Perez, M. Ed.

Magnet Coordinator

alejandra.perez2@houstonisd.org (email)

Hello Parents,

My name is Audrey Warren and I am Harvard’s Wraparound Specialist. As we get closer to the end of the school year and the Summer Break, the Wraparound Specialists in the Heights Feeder Pattern are putting together a Summertime Community Guide with resources and services available for the upcoming summer season. Please submit a Student Assistance Form (SAF) to receive the Summertime Community Guide to your email once it is released.

My role is to identify our students’ non-academic needs and connect them with our community’s resources and services. Please feel free to contact me if your family needs assistance or if you have any questions about what I can do for you. I am always here to help!

Thank You,

Audrey Warren (she/her)

Wraparound Specialist, Harvard Elementary

Email: Audrey.Warren@houstonisd.org

Instagram and Twitter: @HarvardES_WRS

The Memorial Herman Hogg Clinic is still open to serve our Harvard families! The Hogg Health Center serves families who are uninsured, and has special considerations for families with Medicaid, CHIP, and private insurance. Please call ahead to confirm insurance information and to make an appointment for:

• Well child visits
• Illness visits
• Mental health counseling
• Immunizations
• Dental services
• School and sports physicals
• Asthma management
• Dietician counseling
• Mental health counseling
• Dental services

Please visit this link to view the Hogg Health Center information page, flyers, contact information, and consent forms.

General Information

Hogg Middle School, Bldg 510

Hours: Mon - Fri, 7:30 AM - 4:00 PM

Phone: (713) 864-7614

Fax: (713) 864-9004

The last call to claim items from April's Lost n' Found will be Friday, May 13th. Items will be displayed for the last time:

During Free Play at Harvard Park

3:05pm-3:30pm on Friday, May 13th.

All remaining items will be donated.

Need Wraparound Support?

If your family needs assistance, please submit a Student Assistance Form (SAF) at Houstonisd.org/SAFhelp to receive support from Ms. Warren, Wraparound Specialist.

Click here to visit the Specialty Team google site for contact information, schedules, and more!

April has been a busy month! Students finished their Ellen O'Neal Art Scholarship Contest pieces about trees. (See winners below!) Our Young Audiences visitor, Mrs. Vickie, finished the IB mural with students. (See pictures below.)

Students have been learning about soil types, water retention, life cycles, and how the earth's surface changing can impact the environment.

Sign Up for MAY URBAN HARVEST GARDEN DAYS HERE!

Follow us on Instagram for more sneak peeks into our class @mrsshannonsclass

Email: mary.shannon@houstonisd.org
Website: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70A0A45AAAC28A4F58-may

The "textile monster" as our Green City Recycler bin has fondly been named, has had a busy month! Between April 1st and April 22nd, we recycled 426 pounds of textiles!

Mrs. Ruiz's class recycled the most with 76 lbs. and will be receiving a pizza party from GCR this month! Congratulations!
Mr. Montes's Class was in 2nd place at 56 lbs. and Mrs. Shank's Class was in 3rd at 36 lbs.
Don't let the recycling stop in April! The textile monster is hungry all year long!

Thank you families for joining us at the One Book One School Launch Party! Thanks to Ms. Narvaez, we have an easy to read site where you can access all the Daily Trivia questions (click here).

The Little Prince challenge will be due May 27th. One winner from each grade level will be invited to join us for a special luncheon in the outdoor classroom to celebrate their creation! A giant shout out to the Harvard PTA, it is because of their funding that this entire program is able to take place at our school. Thank you for providing us a means to foster community through literature!

Follow us on Instagram @bookingsince1898 for book recommendations, updates and more behind the scenes of our library!

We will be hosting our first Scholastic Book Fair in almost three years the week of May 23rd! We hope to see you stock up on summer reads that week! If you are able to donate time to help with book selection and the cash register, please sign up here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/904084eaeab29a1fd0-scholastic1

Families that wish to shop with their student can come during their teacher's block (VIPS approved) or shop after school from 3-4pm.We will be accepting cash, credit card and e wallet. But starting at 3pm, credit card or e wallet only.

For families unable to attend, we highly encourage you to set up an e wallet account for your student: https://bookfairs.scholastic.com/bookfairs/parent-how-it-works.html?fairID=5091319

It works as a book fair gift card! You can even have family members add onto it as a gift!

Thank you to the volunteers that made Field Day possible. We could not facilitate this event without your support. The students and staff at Harvard ES appreciate your continuous support!!!

April was a lot of fun for students in PE. This is the time of year that we practice the Field Day relays and the variety of stations. Students collaborated in class on what a good sportsmanship should look like and sound like during class and on Field Day.

Students in 3rd-5th grade are completing their End of Year PE assessment. Students are taking the Pacer Test to assess their cardiovascular endurance. They have been competing against themselves; students were trying to beat their beginning of year results.

I couldn't be more proud of our Fifth grade students; they have been working with Young Audience creating a student driven Hip Hop dance. Each class created a whole group dance and then broke off into small groups. The small groups created a dance to showcase in the overall dance. Way to go 5th grade students.

Highlights from Field Day: click on the link below

https://gopro.com/v/MJ8ZbzWvM2D90

We are finishing the year with some fun math projects. I always enjoy teaching the students how math can be used in art. We made grid art, and learned about pixels. We have been also been discussing Roman numerals and our One Book One School choice The Little Prince.

Follow me on Instagram @darronbeekman or email me at dbeekman@houstonisd.org for more information.

Email: dbeekman@houstonisd.org

In music class, we are finishing the year strong with a variety of performance showcases. Our 2nd graders performed musical theater songs for their families and peers on April 26th. Please see the letter below from Main Street Theater to read more about the residency program we were fortunate to collaborate on. The students learned many new things about musical theater and the importance of teamwork when performing together on stage!

Congratulations to all of our students who performed in the Harvard Talent Show this past week at Hogg Middle School. The choir opened up the show with a beautiful performance of "Amani Utupe Na Ustawi" (Grant us peace, give us courage) and "I Love the Mountains". Then we showcased individuals and small groups of Harvard students with a wide variety of talents. What a night! It takes guts to perform for an audience, so we are grateful that many of our students chose to be risk-takers and share their talents with our community.

I am very proud of the progress that all of our students have made in their music studies this year. Each class will perform the Harvard Song and a class-selected song at their End-of-Year ceremonies. Hope to see you all there!

Thanks,

Mary McKenna

Harvard Elementary Music Teacher

Every year, Harvard students participate in an art contest to earn a scholarship to the Mad Hatter Art Camp! This scholarship is in memory of former Harvard student, Ellen O'Neal.
Students used sketching, oil pastels, and water colors to create images of different types of trees! Five local Heights artists chose the top 3 art pieces from each grade level! Below are the winners!

Every week students participate in specialty classes that provide enrichment. During this 55 minute block students are encouraged to engage and think outside the box! Every day specialty teachers are looking for students who go above and beyond our agreements-- that student's name is written on a slip that goes into a grade level drawing. Every Thursday one name is pulled from the box, announced and are then able to draw a prize from our specialty treasure box. Thank you Excellent Eagles for being a leader in your class!

The last Donovan Park rewards day will be on the last day of school, June 7th. Please be sure that sun screen and/or bug spray is applied at home and students wear appropriate shoes.

Harvard teachers and staff have a new coffee bar, courtesy of your Harvard Elementary PTA! To celebrate, we have a contest with prizes generously donated by Starbucks on Yale.

FAMILIES: To enter, find a FUN coffee mug that our Harvard teachers and staff will appreciate! Take a picture of the mug. Add a picture to the contest Facebook post, direct message to Harvard PTA instagram so we can post in our stories, or email to communication@harvardelementarypta.org. Drop off the coffee mug to the school (have your student bring it to their teacher or drop off to the front office).

TEACHERS: To enter, submit a pic of you enjoying the coffee bar at school!

Want to know what's happening with the PTA? Check out the News section of our website! https://harvardelementarypta.org/news

Email: harvardes@houstonisd.org
Website: https://www.houstonisd.org/harvardes
Location: 810 Harvard Street, Houston, TX, USA
Phone: 713-867-5210
Facebook: facebook.com/harvardelementarypta/
Twitter: @HarvardSchool